Award-Winning AP English Literature and Composition Tutors
serving Peoria, IL

AP Lit asks students to do something genuinely difficult: read a poem or prose passage cold and build a convincing argument about how it works in under 40 minutes. Jack's theatre training at Northwestern gave him a performer's instinct for close reading — he knows how tone shifts, imagery, and structural choices create meaning because he's had to inhabit texts from the inside. He teaches students to move from noticing literary devices to actually arguing what those devices accomplish.

Studying English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago means Davis spends his days doing exactly what the AP Lit exam tests — building interpretive arguments about how writers use language to create meaning, then defending those arguments with precise textual evidence. He brings that daily practice to teaching students how to read a poem or passage for its deeper mechanics rather than just its surface narrative. His comfort with both canonical and contemporary literature gives him range across the full-work essay question, where choosing the right novel and framing a sharp thesis makes all the difference.

AP English Lit asks students to do something most haven't practiced: read a poem or prose passage cold and produce a polished analytical essay in 40 minutes. Harrison's BFA in dramatic writing from NYU Tisch gave him deep training in literary structure — how authors use imagery, tone shifts, and narrative perspective to create meaning. He teaches students to build thesis-driven essays that move beyond plot summary into genuine interpretation.

Poetry analysis is usually where AP Lit students panic, so Hannahlore spends real time on close reading techniques — tracking imagery patterns, identifying volta turns in sonnets, and connecting formal choices to thematic meaning. She also drills the free-response essays as a craft, teaching students to build a thesis that does more than restate the prompt. Rated 5.0 by her students.

Earning a strong AP Lit score means doing more than summarizing a novel — it means constructing a thesis about how an author uses imagery, structure, or tone to build meaning, then defending it with textual evidence in forty minutes. Katie's work as a writing tutor at DePaul and her deep background in American and world literature make her especially effective at teaching students to craft those tight, analytical essays under exam conditions.

AP Lit asks students to do something most haven't practiced: build an argument about a poem or passage in forty minutes under pressure. Caitlin teaches a repeatable method for close reading — identifying tone shifts, tracking imagery patterns, and connecting literary devices to a defensible thesis — that turns vague observations into essays that score. Her 5.0 rating speaks to how well that approach clicks.

Karin McKie, MFA, compiles curriculum and personalizes teaching for a broad spectrum of students. I know there is no better, nor more crucial, calling than helping learners communicate their voices and realize their educational dreams. I specialize in tutoring all standardized tests, including the LSAT, SAT, PSAT, ACT, GRE, HSPT, ISEE, Accuplacer, STAAR, TOEFL/IELTS, ASVAB, all AP/IB English and history classes, and more. I also created and published a simple reading annotation system and related strategies specifically to tackle timed tests, as well as teaching critical reading, comparative literature, public speaking, and theater. As a professional writer and editor, I coach students in persuasive writing for schoolwork, college application and supplemental essays, internship and job applications, and the like. For decades, I've taught and lectured at universities, schools, and with individuals in Chicagoland and the Bay Area, and to online students of all ages around the world. I customize study plans with learners and their advocates to utilize existing abilities and add new techniques to reach personal and scholastic goals. I have a BS in Communications and Theater, and an MFA in Creative Writing. I have completed Continuing Education courses at Stanford, Northwestern and DePaul Universities. I'm a professional features writer and culture critic. I've edited Perspective design journal and Reed literary magazine and have performed memoir essays I've written on Chicago Public Radio. I come from a family of teachers and was fortunate to grow up at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, where my anthropologist mom was Education Director. Since early childhood, I've been immersed in multicultural and ELL education. I've devoted my personal and professional time to diversity and storytelling, starting at public TV station WETA in my hometown outside Washington, D.C., where I was certified as a trainer with Sesame Street's Preschool Education Project. I've also taught creativity and teambuilding through improvisation to all ages (as well as creating a kids summer camp), reading for the SAG Foundations BookPALS (Performing Artists for Literacy in Schools) program, plus reading and writing skills to at-risk students through the Park District's Kraft Great Kids Program. I've assisted many of my arts marketing clients, including Barrel of Monkeys and Kidworks Touring Theatre, with youth literacy programs at schools and libraries throughout the Windy City.

AP English Lit asks students to do something Malina has done thousands of times: take a piece of literature apart and explain how its language creates meaning. Her Yale Classics training in close reading poetry and prose — tracking meter, diction, imagery, and narrative structure — maps directly onto the skills the free-response essays demand. She's particularly strong at teaching students to write thesis-driven analyses under timed conditions.

AP Lit asks students to do something genuinely difficult: read a poem or prose passage cold and produce a polished analytical essay under time pressure. Wallis studied Russian and Art History at Sewanee, which means she spent four years dissecting literary and visual texts for symbolism, tone, and structural choices. She teaches students to build arguments around specific textual evidence rather than vague thematic summaries.

AP Lit asks students to do something genuinely difficult: read a poem or prose passage cold and produce a polished analytical essay under time pressure. Noelle unpacks literary devices like imagery, tone shifts, and narrative structure by showing how each one serves the author's larger argument — the kind of close reading that earns high marks on the free-response questions. Her love of reading and writing gives her a natural ear for the nuances the exam rewards.

AP Lit asks students to do something genuinely difficult: read a poem or passage they've never seen and produce a polished analytical essay under time pressure. Kirstie teaches close-reading techniques — tracking imagery patterns, identifying shifts in tone, unpacking syntax choices — that give students a repeatable framework for any unseen text. Her own background in literature and comparative literature means she can draw connections across periods and genres that deepen a student's analysis.

AP English Literature asks students to do something genuinely difficult: read a poem or prose passage they've never seen and produce a polished analytical essay in under forty minutes. As a PhD candidate in American Literature at UConn, Meghan digs into the specific skills the exam rewards — thesis construction, close reading of figurative language, and integrating textual evidence without plot summary. She keeps sessions dynamic by rotating through poetry, drama, and fiction so students build range across genres.

AP Lit asks students to do something most high schoolers haven't practiced: read a poem or prose passage cold and immediately build an argument about how its literary devices create meaning. Jake tackles this by teaching close-reading techniques — tracking shifts in tone, identifying figurative patterns, and connecting formal choices to thematic claims — so the timed essay feels less like a scramble and more like a structured conversation with the text.

AP English Literature asks students to do something most haven't been trained for: write a polished literary argument under time pressure about a poem or passage they've never seen. Maddy wrote an honors thesis on art criticism at Harvard and spent years analyzing fiction, poetry, and Shakespeare — she teaches the close-reading instincts and essay structures that earn high scores on the free-response section.

AP English Literature asks students to do exactly what Winnie was trained for: read a poem or prose passage cold and produce a sharp, thesis-driven essay under time constraints. Her comparative literature background means she can teach students to analyze imagery, narrative voice, and structural choices across traditions — from Victorian novels to postcolonial fiction — with the specificity the exam demands.

AP English Literature asks students to do something genuinely difficult: read a poem or prose passage they've never seen and produce a polished analytical essay under time pressure. Muriel's degree in Spanish and Italian literature means she's spent years doing exactly this kind of close reading across multiple literary traditions, spotting how imagery, tone, and structure carry meaning. She teaches students to build arguments around textual evidence rather than plot summary — the skill that separates 3s from 5s.

AP Lit asks students to do something most haven't practiced: build a literary argument under a ticking clock, using specific textual evidence and sophisticated analysis of devices like imagery, tone shifts, and narrative structure. Jonathan is an active fiction writer studying at The Writers Studio in Manhattan, which means he reads prose the way the exam demands — with an eye toward how authors construct meaning at the sentence level. That craft-level awareness translates directly into the kind of close reading the free-response essays reward.

AP English Literature demands more than summarizing a novel — it requires close reading that connects imagery, diction, and structure to a text's deeper argument. Stephanie's Princeton coursework sharpened her ability to analyze poetry and prose at the college level, and she applies that same rigor when walking students through timed essay responses and multiple-choice passage analysis.

AP Lit asks students to do something most high schoolers haven't practiced: build an argument about how a poem or passage works, not just what it means. Brittany's Yale literature background and college-level teaching experience mean she can walk through the difference between summary and analysis, then show how to structure a timed essay that earns top marks on the rubric.